Richard Littlemore

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Co-author (with Jim Hoggan) of the award-winningClimate Cover-up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming, Richard has been Editor of the DeSmogBlog since its inception in 2005. Originally a newspaper reporter (the Ottawa Citizen, the Winnipeg Tribune, the Vancouver Sun), Richard has, since 1995, split his career between magazine journalism, activism and politics and corporate communications. On projects specific to climate change, he wrote the David Suzuki Foundation’s first public information package on global warming in 1996, was vice-chair of the Greater Vancouver Regional District's Air Quality Committee in 1996 and 1997 and sat as a delegate to the Canadian government's (failed) Kyoto Implementation Process from 1997 to 1999. Richard is a regular speech writer for many business and academic leaders.

It was with almost embarrassing enthusiasm that Canadian Environment Minister Rona Ambrose announced last week how pathetically Canada is underperforming in its promise to address climate change. Speaking in the House of Commons, Ambrose said:

“Later this week we will release Canada's greenhouse-gas inventory and it will show that Canada's [level of emissions] is now 35% higher than the Kyoto targets that the Liberals set . To put that into perspective … that would mean that today we would have to take every train, plane and automobile off the streets of Canada. That is not realistic.”

Check out the Coalblog for some un-emancipated opinions on climate change. And check their favourite “experts” (Tim Patterson, for one) against the list of usual suspects who are seen to be challenging the science in every venue and on every occasion.

It is, woefully, no surprise whatsoever that Canada's Conservative government is considering joining the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. As the Globe and Mail reported today, anti-Environment Minister Rona Ambrose is cuddling up to the U.S. policy position, saying “I've been looking at the Asia-Pacific Partnership for a number of months now because the key principles around the Asia Pacific Partnership are very much in line with where our government wants to go.”

We at the DeSmogBlog missed Globe and Mail columnist John Ibbitson's original (and clearly goofy) column, but nobody should miss the response: a letter to the editor by Christian Schoof, research associate in glaciology, UBC Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences

“Re: Clean-Air Treaty Worthy Of Effort (April 20) by John Ibbitson: So, 90 scientists encourage the government to tackle climate change, 60 recommend the opposite. What is a layman to do?”

Here's nice piece, finally offering a bit of balance to the recent major media assault on the credibility and usefulness of blogs. Kudos to the Vancouver Courier, in which the article first appeared, and to the open-minded Geoff Olson:

“The most compelling environmental challenge facing the world today is global warming. In Toronto in 1988, we hosted the first international scientific conference on climate change. The scientists gathered there told us in clear, unambiguous language the nature of the challenge we were facing. In their consensus statement, they concluded: 'Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment, whose ultimate consequences are second only to global nuclear war.' “

"Fossil-fuel companies have spent millions funding anti-global-warming think tanks, purposely creating a climate of doubt around the science. DeSmogBlog is the antidote to that obfuscation." ~ BRYAN WALSH, TIME MAGAZINE